Halloween (2018)
Directed By: David Gordon Green
Halloween is probably the most beloved slasher movie of all time, and for good reason. It perfected the formula for the modern slasher movie in 1978. An unstoppable killer (Michael Myers) stalks and kills a group of teenagers and is subdued by one girl (Jamie Lee Curtis) at then end. The movie was ripped off numerous times from Friday the 13th to Final Exam. It was a proven winner and the original film was a massive success, launching Jamie Lee Curtis and director John Carpenter into stardom. With the success of the first film came numerous sequels and even a remake with it’s own sequel. Twenty years after the first film, there was a sequel that ignored all the others, Halloween H20. Now, in 2018 we have yet another sequel ignoring all the others, including H20 haha. Yeah it is hard to explain but Halloween now has new legs, but did it stand tall?
Since this just came out, I’m going to avoid any spoilers. If you’re anything like me you enjoy the series and you were somewhat excited and intrigued with the new film, so I won’t take that away from you. The plot centers around Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as she deals with her life 40 years after the attack by Michael Myers. Strode is now a recluse living far away from town in a large house with a gated driveway. Meanwhile a couple real crime podcasters are trying to get interviews with her on what happened Halloween night 1978. The podcasters even go as far to visit Michael Myers in the asylum he has been in since the murders. Michael still refuses to talk, much as he did after killing his sister as a child. There is a new doctor in charge of Michael, named Dr. Sartain, he plays the Loomis role in this film somewhat and is fully intrenched in Myers. Laurie turns the podcasters away after they question her about Michael and get a little too personal with her. Since the murders she has been very detatched from her daughter and granddaughter, due to her obsession with Michael Myers and her PTSD from the experience. Her obsession becomes greater when we find out they are transporting Michael to a maximum-security prison in a few days. While transporting Michael, the bus crashes, causing Myers to escape and wreak havoc on Haddonfield once again. Now Laurie must protect her family and take Michael out for good.
The acting is quite good. Jamie Lee Curtis is as great as always. She really brings a new level to the Laurie character and you feel her panic and mental anguish. Jamie is very good at showing emotion and care towards the film and her character in general. Haluk Bilginer plays D. Sartain and he’s alright I suppose. I feel like he ripped of Donald Pleasence so much that it is hard to really decide if he’s good or not in this movie but I can say that he isn’t awful. Judy Greer from the FX show Married plays Karen Strode, Laurie’s estranged daughter. I always like her in anything she does, she’s sweet but has kind of an edge at the same time. You can feel her resentment towards her mother for the bizarre childhood she had to endure. Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson is played by Andi Matichak. She does a solid job as well, and is pretty cute and innocent feeling without being overly preachy or prudish. She basically takes over Laurie’s role from the first Halloween. Michael is played again by Nick Castle from the original movie. This Michael is much like the original but lacks the subtle creepiness, but that could be due to direction and not so much the acting.
This movie has much much more gore and blood than the original film. People seem to forget the first movie had little to no blood. We get a few brutal kills, that I won’t ruin for you guys. I know I love going into slasher movies not knowing what the kills will be and just enjoying them in the moment. This movie has a lot of subtle nods and homages to the other films in the series. PJ Soles plays a teacher, which I didn’t initially notice, I had to think about it afterwards, nice and subtle not boom in your face. A lot of the kids running around were wearing masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which I noticed right away probably because I love that movie. There are some scenes with Michael and Laurie that are straight from the first film, I won’t go into detail for you guys though. Halloween II is nodded to with a scene of Michael walking into a house while a woman is making a sandwich. H20 gets a homage with the bathroom scene. One of my favorite scenes is where they are talking about Michael Myers and Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson dismisses that Laurie is Michael’s sister, said someone made that up. Basically, every movie is given a look in this movie but it is very subtle which is great. See if you can find some more when you go watch it!
Halloween (2018) was one of the best sequels to the original classic. Before I have ranked the series on this blog and now I feel like I almost have to redo it. To me they would go in this order: 1978, Halloween II, 2018, Halloween III, Halloween 4, Halloween H20, Halloween 5, Rob Zombie’s Halloween, Rob Zombies Halloween 2, Halloween 6, Halloween Resurrection will always be last….mutha fucka! As much as I enjoyed this movie, it isn’t without it’s faults. The middle of the movie drags just a little but the action at the end makes up for it. Some of the characters are shitty people but they don’t get their comeuppance like Allyson’s boyfriend! Damn that doucher needed to die! Surprisingly the only nudity is seen in a flashback of Judith Myers getting killed by young Michael. Not really a complaint just kind of an interesting fact. To find anything else with this is kind of nitpicky. I have seen a few people complaining saying this is terrible, but man you get that with every movie. I am a big fan of the Halloween franchise and I can say I enjoyed this movie. If you’re saying it is horrible, you’re just being a dick. I would give this an A-, it was just a lot of fun, the slow middle keeps this from getting an A from me. Kill that boyfriend and it might move up a little ;).
